Wreckage of missing civilian chopper found in Quezon

A civilian helicopter that was earlier reported missing while on its way to Quezon from Bulacan has been found, a military official said Tuesday.

Philippine Air Force spokesman Col. Araus Robert Musico said the chopper's wreckage was found around 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday in Barangay Umiray in General Nakar.

Musico said the area where the wreckage was found was "vegetated," making it difficult for the aerial search team to check if the two people in the chopper — the pilot and his assistant — survived the crash.

They (search team) saw from above a tail boom, no fuselage," he said. "They saw the possible wreckage site."

"As to other activities, they didn’t see an activity there," Musico added. "They just saw the tail boom, they couldn’t see the entire aircraft because it's in a vegetated area."

The chopper, which left an MWSS compound in Norzagaray, Bulacan, on Monday noon, was supposed to pick up a rescue team involved in the search and retrieval operations for six workers trapped in a tunnel in Gen. Nakar. It was declared missing when it failed to reach its destination in Sumag river 45 minutes later.

The six workers, who were constructing a tunnel at the river, were later on found dead. They were trapped at the tunnel when southwest monsoon rains caused a flashflood in the area last Saturday.

Musico said the information on the wreckage has already been relayed to local officials so people can be sent to the site. —KBK, GMA News